Textured finish on photographic prints



Nov. 12, 1963 W. KINNARD TEXTURED FINISH 0N PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS Filed April 11, 1960 IN VEN TOR.

W04 co 1- 7- Kmwmep A TTORNE Y5 producing a superior finish on the print.

ilnited States Patent 3,110,235 TEXTURED FINISH 0N PHGTGGRAPHIC PRINTS Woleott Kinnard, 324 W. Vine St., Milwaukee, Wis. Filed Apr. 11, 1969, Ser. No. 21,296 5 Claims. (6311. 95-l) This invention relates to an apparatus and method for finishing photographic prints, and to the resulting pro net. The invention has particular application to the finishing of color prints.

The invention has two aspects. The first is concerned with the provision of a substitute method and apparatus to replace what is conventionally known as ferrotype plate finishing. In conventional practice glossy type printing paper, whether black and white or color is placed face down, while still wet from the washing operation, upon a smooth surfaced plate to which it is pressed by a squeegee roller and upon which it is allowed to dry. The so called 'ferrotype plates are made from many materials and are characterized, in general, by a uniformly highly polished smooth surface to produce the desired glossy face on the print. The slightest scratch on the plate will ruin such a plate. For hardness and to minimize scratching it is conventional to use a. chrome plated brass or steel plate for this purpose. Even so, these plates become scratched in use and require rather frequent replacement. A 16" x 20" plate costs $6.00 or more on the market.

My improved plate is made by adhering a web or film of synthetic resin to any adequate backing member. Vinyl film is widely available, being used for shelf and wall coverings, and for other purposes. It can be had with any desired type of surface and the cost is only as compared with the $6.00 required for a chrome plated ferrotype plate. Actually the vinyl film surfacing lasts longer, being less susceptible to damage by scratching. If the film is scratched, it can be stripped from the backing member and replaced with another film. Even if the entire backing member is replaced as well as the film, the 'cost is still but a fraction of the cost of the conventional ferrotype plate.

The second aspect of my invention is concerned with Both mat surface and glossy surface printing paper is available. Also textured printed paper is available. However, all such papers are subject to objections which have long been known to photographers. These objections are particularly notable in color work. In color work a gloss or even an air-dry semi-gloss finish looks shiny and cheap. Even the best professional work looks like an amateurish snapshot when thus finished. On the other hand a mat finish takes all the life from photographic color portraits by reducing the reflective range and is unsatisfactory for that reason. The term reflective range refers to the range between the maximum reflection and minimum reflection resulting from absorption of incident light. The greater the range the greater is the scale of tonal values. A mat finish compresses the whole scale. 'I f attempts are made to resolve these objection by the use of textured papers, much detail is lost.

I have found that results infinitely superior to any other finishing method can be achieved by drying a color print in intimate face contact with a film of synthetic resin which has been printed to present a pattern of relatively glossy and non-glossy areas of small sizes and substantially uniform distribution throughout the area of the film. It is immaterial whether the gloss is provided by ink applied to the film the exposed areas of the film being non-glossy or whether the exposed areas of the film are glossy and the ink is of such a character as to provide a non-glossy mat or semi-mat surface.

In the best exemplification known to me, I use a vinyl film printed to provide a pattern which gives the filrn an appearance of linen, the printing ink used having metallic pigment and constituting dots of highly glossy characteristics, while the areas between the printed dots of ink are relatively non-glossy.

It is desired to emphasize the fact that there is no necessary physical texture apparent in the surface of the film which substitutes for a ferrotype plate. Neither are there any apparent differences in level in the surface of the resulting print. Both preferably appear absolutely smooth, even under considerable magnification. The desired effect, so far as the resulting print is concerned, is preferably achieved solely by variation in the degree of gloss. While I do not wish to be limited to any particular relationship between the glossy and non-glossy areas it may be noted that in the preferred practice of the invention approximately /3 of the total area of the printed film and a corresponding portion of the total area of each photographic print is glossy and about /3 is non-glossy.

While reference has been made to uniform distribution of the pattern of glossy and non-glossy areas, it will be understood that this description is intended only as a generalization. inherently any replica of a linen like pattern will result in zones in which more ink is used than is used in other zones. However, the overall effect produced is in generally uniform compliance with a selected pattern so that the finished print shows the appearance of a linen like texture over its entire area, the texture being apparent rather than actual.

In the drawings;

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the back of a photographic print as it appears when superimposed, face down, upon a film of synthetic resin attached to a suitable backing member, the resin film having printed dots diagrammatically illustrated to show the textured effect;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary detail view in plan showing at approximately six-to-one enlargement a portion of the surface of the texture-printed film which is substituted for a ferrotype plate in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 except that it shows in higher degree of magnification a modified form of texture-printed film in which a mat surface ink is used to provide less gloss than is provided by the unprinted surface of the film, the pattern also being different from that suggested in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary detail view diagrammatically showing at approximately six-to-one magnification a small portion of a portrait print having areas differing in gloss and suggesting a predetern'iined pattern without substantial texture in fact.

The present invention is not at all concerned with the nature of the backing member 5'. In practice I employ a rigid sheet of acrylic resin. Metal or marble or glass are other appropriate materials. The rigidity of the backing or support is preferred because the print dries perfectly fiat.

The surface which provides the desired finish for a photographic print may be printed directly on the backing member 5 but in order to effect the economies referred to above it is greatly preferred to use a thin flexible vinyl sheet having a backing of adhesive protected by a parting sheet of paper (not shown) which is stripped from the vinyl sheet preliminarily to attachment of the latter to the backing member 5. Such a vinyl sheet is shown at 6 in FIGS. 1 and 2. It is available from a number of different sources and used as shelf and wall covering material.

The sheeting 6' which is preferred by me has a pattern giving it the appearance of linen and comprised of sets of printed dots 7 g sizes and shapes as shown in enlarged form in FIG. 2. In the samples successfully used by me, the printed dots comprised a metallic inl; which is highly glossy, being in contrast with the sets or unprinted and relative non-glossy areas 8. The non-glossy areas are represented by stippling. t is broadly inroaterial wlnch of the said sets of areas. are continuous and which are constituted of relatively discontinuous dots.

When a wet photographic print 18 is forced into intimate facial pressure engagement with the printed surface of the film 5, as shown in FIG. 1, and is allowed to dry in contact with such surface, the resulting print has an appearance somewhat as represented in FIG. 4. The representation in FIG. 4 is necessarily inadequate because the variation in gloss can be represented in a orawing only by the use of lines which, in practice, are wholly absent from the picture. The diagrammatic representation in 4 is taken from that part of a picture which shows at ll the eye of the subject. The pupil appears at 12 and a portion of the eyebrow appears at 113. Across the entire portrait including, of course, the features specifically identified above, are rows of printed dots 7 which vary in sizes in simulation of the interwoven threads of a linen fabric. As noted above, in the particular prior resin film preferred by me, the dots represent the highly glossy areas and the intervening low-gloss areas 25 are represented by stippling.

On the other hand, it is immaterial to the invention whether the applied pattern represents linen, or whether the applied pattern presents high or low gloss. In FlG. 3 the pattern represents a more uniform weaving such as that of line silk and I have chosen a pattern in which the printed areas 14 are of low-gloss and the intervening unprinted areas 15 are of high-gloss.

Particularly in color work, prints made in accordance with the disclosures of this application have all of the life of a glossy print with none of the unobjectionable shine. Yet it is not possible for the observer examining such a print to select any given area and characterize it as either glossy or non-glossy. Upon close inspection the pattern of the relatively glossy and non-glossy areas may be seen but it does not intrude upon the observers consciousness. To the extent that it is Visible at all, it gives much the appearance which would be achieved it the photographic work had in fact been printed on fabric of the type presented by the selected pattern.

It is significant tnat neither the apparent pattern, or the relative variation in gloss, affect in any way the detail in which the picture is reproduced. If the print had actual texture, much detail would be lost. The simulation of texture by relative difference in gloss in a pattern overlying the print preserves all detail of the picture.

I claim:

1. A photographic print having its face provided with a photographic image, the said face being provided across said image with a pattern which has a smooth surface and consists solely of relatively glossy and non-glossy areas which are respectively small and distinct.

2. ""he print defined in claim 1 in which the photographic image is in color, the glossy areas being sufficient to give reflective range to the colored image and the non glossy areas being sulllcient to substantially break up offcnsive shine, the said pattern appearing on the photographic image as if it were a pattern in the print but the face of the print being substantially free of texture embossing, the aforesaid image and smoothness of surface being continuous across the print independently of the detail of the photographic image and without any interruption attributable to the glossy and non-glossy areas being tactually apparent, and without visible embossing, even under substantial magnification.

3. A method of finishing a wet photographic print, which method includes pressing the face of the wet print into contact with a smooth surlace free of physical texture and having a pattern consisting solely of relatively glossy and non-glossy portions, and substantially drying the print in contact with such surface.

4. A method according to claim 3 in which the print is maintained in pressure contact with said surface until substantially dry, the relatively glossy and non-glossy portions being small in area and comprising respective sets of such portions in which the portions constituting at least one of said sets are discontinuous and substantially surrounded by portions constituting the other of said sets.

5. A method according to claim 3 in which the pattern has the appearance of woven fabric and appears across all of said portions independently of the detail of the photographic image.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES Kodak Reference Handbook, copyright 1945, Eastman Kodak (10., publisher; pages 14 and 15 in chapter on Papers.

Encyclopedia of Photography, N .Y National Education Alliance, copyright 1949, vol. 2, pages 394 and 95, Preparation and Application of Baryta Coating.

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1. A PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINT HAVING ITS FACE PROVIDED WITH A PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE, THE SAID FACE BEING PROVIDED ACROSS SAID IMAGE WITH A PATTERN WHICH HAS A SMOOTH SURFACE AND CONSISTS SOLELY OF RELATIVELY GLOSSY AND NON-GLOSSY AREAS WHICH ARE RESPECTIVELY SMALL AND DISTINCT. 